TicketZen lets you pay off parking tickets with a smartphone

Getting a parking ticket sucks, but paying for it shouldn't have to be. That's what the folks at Boston's Terrible Labs think anyway -- they built an app called TicketZen to take the trouble out of giving the state your money, and we took at peek at TechCrunch Disrupt NY today. Here's the gist of it: once you've installed the iOS or Android app, you can use it to scan a barcode on your parking ticket to import all the pertinent data and pay it off with a touch.

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TicketZen hands-on at TechCrunch Disrupt 2014

Don't see a barcode? That's fine, too. Not every town is that forward-thinking, so you can punch in the violation number instead. The process of actually paying the ticket from the app can be as short as a few moments once your credit card info is stored, and in the worst case founder Cort Johnson says payments will clear overnight. It all comes down to how often each municipality submits their tickets, which is why users get a push notification when the city gets around to processing it. Speaking of different municipalities, using TicketZen to wipe away your vehicular indiscretions comes at a price -- you'll be paying the startup a small fee (between $1 and $3) depending on where you are. Got a few tickets of your own to quietly get rid of? The iOS app is usable in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington D.C., Chicago, Boston, Cambridge, State College and now New York City. Alas, you Android fans can only use the app in Boston, so be careful where you park everywhere else.